The present invention relates to thermally insulated outer garments of the type which cover the lower torso, the legs, and the feet of the wearer and, in some cases, may optionally cover portions of the head, arms, or hands of the wearer. Insulating materials and garments made of such materials have been developed which are generally effective in protecting the wearer from the cold in low temperature environments. Great demand is put on such garments when the wearer spends long times in an inactive status such as at outdoor sports events or situated in a blind for hunting birds or other wild game.
Particularly in these situations, a great problem almost always lies in maintaining a comfortable temperature level for the feet of the wearer. Frequently resort to insulated boots is used to supplement the main outer garment to deal with the problem of maintaining foot warmth. While insulated boots have been developed which are reasonably effective, they are very expensive and, even then, are not totally satisfactory when the wearer spends long periods in an inactive status.
According to the present invention, the foregoing disadvantages are overcome by providing a thermally insulating garment wherein highly effective insulating material covers not only the lower torso and legs of the wearer but also totally encloses the feet of the wearer together with whatever footwear is in use. In order to take care of the situation when the wearer wishes to walk about, the garment is arranged so that the shoe and foot covering portions are not totally removed, but rather are merely slipped off of the foot and secured on the upper portion of the leg utilizing a reclosable slit opening to remove and insert the foot with its footwear. Accordingly, the preferred embodiment of the garment has insulating and heat retaining properties similar to a sleeping bag while still allowing the wearer's lower legs to be easily released for walking and moving about, all without removing any separate parts of the suit.
There have been previous attempts to provide insulating garments with insulating and heat retaining properties similar to a sleeping bag, but these have not provided the advantages of the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,676 to Shanks, et al., issued Mar. 26, 1974 (U.S. Cl. 2/69.5) shows an insulating bag structure that may be secured about the waist and which is provided with a side zipper so that a person can easily fit the tubular body about the legs and lower torso. This garment, however, does not allow any means for freeing the foot and leg of the wearer to render the wearer ambulatory other than by removing the garment. A similar arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,764 to Povey issued Aug. 10, 1971 (U.S. Cl. 2/69) in which there is no means provided to mobilize the wearer other than by completely removing the garment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,622 to Maddron, issued Jan. 5, 1982 (U.S. Cl. 2/79) shows an insulating body suit which does not extend to cover the feet and shoes of the wearer but which totally covers the wearer's arms and hands. A primary feature of the suit is that, near the elbow of the arm sleeve, is an elastic cuff and the suit is proportioned so that the wearer can withdraw from the hand covering portion of the sleeve and insert the hand and forearm through the cuff thereby having temporary free use of the hand and fingers. Provision is made for fastening the unused or vacated segment of the sleeve alongside the remaining upper sleeve segment by use of a fastening means to prevent the vacated sleeve segment from interfering with the manual task at hand. The arrangement of Maddron, or any obvious adaptation of it, would fail to address the problems solved by the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,236,636 to Young, issued Apr. 1, 1941 (U.S. Cl. 2/227) shows an improvement in trousers or slacks in which each leg of the garment can be unzipped along a vertical line to expose a limb for coolness and ventilation and which includes means for holding the trouser leg in an elevated position. The arrangement of Young is not intended to be, and is not capable of being, adapted to solve the problem of providing insulating garments with foot covering portions.